Chapter 4
The general looked at Emily.
“Captain Hayes, hand me the helmet.”
She gave it to him.
Her fingers were stiff.
A technician rushed over with a portable speaker.
The recorder was connected.
For a moment, only static filled the runway.
Then Alpha 3’s call came through.
“Command, this is Alpha 3. We are pinned down south of Ridge Echo. Multiple wounded. Request immediate close air support.”
Then Emily’s voice.
“Command, Raven 13 is ready.”
Then Barrett.
“Raven 13, hold position.”
A wounded soldier on a stretcher turned his head.
Everyone listened.
Alpha 3 came again.
“Enemy closing from tree line. We cannot move. We need air support now.”
Emily’s voice was steady.
“Command, I can reach them in seven minutes.”
Barrett replied, cold and sharp.
“You are not launching that relic on my authority.”
A crew chief near the A-10 slowly looked up.
The word hung there.
Relic.
Not aircraft.
Not asset.
Not lifeline.
Relic.
The recording continued.
Emily again.
“Sir, they will be overrun.”
Barrett said, “Then they should have held their route.”
One of the medics stopped working for half a second.
Kincaid’s face changed.
So did every face around him.
Alpha 3’s radio crackled.
“Raven 13… if you can hear us… please…”
Then came the sound Emily had heard in the cockpit.
A soldier screaming for his mother.
The runway seemed to shrink around that sound.
Emily looked down.
She had heard it once.
May you like
Now everyone heard it.
Read Part 5 to hear the moment Raven 13 chose Alpha 3 over her own career.
